1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for treating a fried gyoza (a fried dumpling stuffed with minced pork) and more particularly to a process for treating a fried gyoza which makes the binding part (the ear part) of its pastry soft in texture even in such a case where it tends to dry out when exposed to long term preservation in frozen or chilled state and when heated by a microwave oven before eating.
2. Description of the Background
It has been hitherto known that a gyoza tends to become hard in the binding part of its pastry when exposed to long term preservation and to microwave heat treatment and some attempts have been made to improve such an unfavorable property with respect to a raw gyoza and a steamed gyoza.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Serial Nos. 60-126064 and 6-277013 proposed a process wherein room temperature water or hot water is showered on the pastry of raw gyoza in the steaming step. In the case of this process, however, since the raw gyoza is arranged with the binding part of its pastry facing up so as to retain its shape, the water content in the bottom part to be fried or baked is increased by the spontaneously fallen water so that the bottom part is swollen up to cause a problem of becoming unpleasant in texture. For this reason, such a process is not applicable to the treatment of the fried part in an industrial scale production of the fried gyoza.
Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 58-56662 describes a process wherein raw gyozas are arranged in a tray having drainage holes at the bottom and hot water is showered on each of the raw gyozas or the tray containing the raw gyozas is immersed in hot water, and thereafter the hot water-treated gyoza is subjected to steam treatment. In the case of this process, however, since the bottom part to be fried or baked is simultaneously treated with hot water, the water content in it is increased to cause a disadvantage in that its texture becomes too soft unlike the characteristic crispy texture. Accordingly, the process is not applicable to the treatment of the fried or baked part in the fried gyoza production operation to be carried out on a large scale in a factory.
An object of the present invention is to provide for treating a fried gyoza in a process which is feasible on an industrial scale and which makes the binding part (the ear part) of its pastry soft even when it is exposed to long term preservation measures, especially to frozen or chilled preservation or to heating by a microwave oven before eating.